The Fabulous Fear Machine Review (Stoat_Girl)
Not really for the faint of heart who can't handle sexual or gorey imagery on the cards or in the story. A brutal recreation of the EC Horror Comics that actually has interesting commentary about how easily people can be made to panic with the cards representing things that people still fear to this day, like Viral Challenges encouraging kids to hurt themselves for internet fame or people being afraid that an entire nuclear arsenal is left unmaintained underground, just waiting to explode and destroy humanity.
The story is okay, albeit likely the weakest aspect. Not the machine itself but the twists. They feel rather tame and honestly a bit too repetitive with the twist being everyone going to kill the person who makes the wish. Not a single person, a huge crowd/swarm. It made the future deaths after Jen feel repetitive and rather boring.
The rivals are okay as well, but not really remember-able. The best were the Zepplin/Children of M but even then its more for their mystery rather than their writing. The challenge behind them is good though. I also like that they aren't pure, they are just as vile as you.
Cards are the best part. While I wish you could build a deck rather than being pre-assigned one, the artwork is great and a lot of the topics listed on them are relevant to today. The Local legends was also very well done. It just had me wishing for more to be included.
The game is pretty challenging even on Normal difficulty but not stupidly broken. It feels like losing is because of a mistake you made rather than the game being unbalanced.
Ways Devs could improve game
- Mod support if there's no plans for dlc (Think Plague Inc)
- The ability to read the stories of the other people who work for the machine when you complete their story in game
- Reduce the lightning effect at the end of Santos' campaign as its way too bright right now.
- The ability to replay old campaigns with your new card decks to unlock secret legends that required cards from future campaigns.
Overall - 8/10. A solid albeit niche strategy game. For people who love card games and resource management, a great game for you if you can handle the dark and blood filled themes.